1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments relate to side key modules installed at sides of mobile communication terminals, contactly coupled up to printed circuit boards embedded in the mobile communication terminals. Particularly, the exemplary embodiments according to the present invention relate to a side key module that can be simply fabricated without a soldering process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mobile communication terminals are portable electronic apparatuses for enabling users to conduct wireless communication with the others. Those mobile communication terminals may be generally classified into several types, e.g., bars, folders, slides and swings, by outer shapes and operation modes.
In such a mobile communication terminal, as well as a keypad exposed on the front of the body, side keys are additionally installed at sides of the body of the terminal for the purpose of handling a camera built therein and adjusting volume of various kinds.
With the trends toward slimness, those side keys are needed to occupy smaller areas in mobile communication terminals. Nevertheless, for side key modules using tact switches, there is a limit in designing to make thickness slimmed down because they require wide areas in printed circuit boards (PCB) of mobile communication terminals due to large sizes of the tact switches.
Even with other types of side key modules using flexible PCBs (FPCB), those are inconvenient for fabrication because soldering processes should be carried out to connect the FPCBs with PCBs of mobile communication terminals.